Xbox 360 HD DVD pre-order costs $99 if you do some funny math

If you love cooked-books math as much as we do, get ready for some fun with the forthcoming $200 Xbox 360 HD DVD drive bundle: as reader Edison points out, initial shipments are bundled with King Kong on HD DVD (MSRP $40) and the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote (MSRP $30); if you apply for an Amazon card when pre-ordering the unit (did we mention it's now available for pre-order?) that drops it down another $30, making your unit "$100." We know, that's some pretty shady math to justify yet another $200 on the old credit card, so instead we'd recommend you just say you're treating yourself for being such a good girl/boy this year and not worry so much about what the thing's going to cost. C'mon, you're worth it.

Engadget

PS3 vs Xbox 360 - What to buy this year? Gametrailer round table discussio

Gamertrailers.com does a great round table-type talk with representatives from all camps on whether you should get a PS3 or an Xbox 360 this holiday for your nextgen gaming fix.

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Xbox Team about Developing the Xbox360 HD-DVD Addon

What takes 4.7 million lines of code, partner teams from all over Microsoft, and millions of dollars to create? The Xbox 360 system software? Nope. This is just the HD DVD player.

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VLC is the fastest XBOX 360 transcoding solution. Read and see for yourself

Since the Fall dashboard update many have tried multiple solutions to convert their xvid/divx files to play them on the xbox 360. VLC is proving to the the fastest, yet good looking, transcoding application out there. VLC vs WinAvi 7.7 vs Windows Media Encoder.

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Microsoft Says Sony's Online Network Is 'Busted'

Microsoft employee Andre Vrignaud, who works for the Game Tech Group, claims that Sony's PlayStation network is "busted" and offers a "broken" user experience. He believes that a number of companies are trying to position themselves to become the sole provider of an online solution for the PS3.

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Gizmodo: Hands on with the Nintendo Wii

"I spent 2 days this week at Nintendo of America headquarters playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Nintendo Wii."

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In-Game Unreal Tournament 2007 footage!

While the graphics updates are no surprise, apparently by the footage they're will be some interesting new addtions such as hoverboards (racing) "War of the Worlds" style walkers and tanks the size of goddanm buildings!

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Rumor: Best Buy's PS3 Playbook

With just about two weeks to go before the launch of the Wii and PS3, someone snuck us what looks to be Best Buy's official playbook. This 25-page document details all the nitty-gritty on how the super store is going to set up for the sale of both consoles, what to say and what not to say and even how to arrange the store.

I was delighted to learn, while reading through the document, that Best Buy has learned from their mistakes, specifically those made with the launch of the Xbox 360. This time around, you won't be pushed or cajoled and you might even enjoy the experience, if the Big B is to be believed.

Video game history will be made Nov. 17 (PlayStation 3) and Nov. 19 (Nintendo Wii), when two new console platforms launch for the first time in the same year since 2001 - within 48 hours of each other.

With your application of the "It Selling Strategy" against a backdrop of our core values and Core Philosophies, customers will go home with the end-to-end solutions that are just right for them and (most importantly) be glad they chose Best Buy.

Our learnings from the Xbox 360 launch last year support our belief that nothing is more important than the quality of the customer's experience. From past launches, we learned that the average customer who purchases a console system from Best Buy comes back six times a year over a three-year period to buy games and peripherals. If you press the customer on Nov. 17 to buy your end-to-end solution, it may be the last time you ever see that customer. Don't take the risk.

Instead, talk to the customer and find out what kind of gamer (hard core, family or value) he or she is. Ask questions and listen for the answers. The journey to the end-to-end solution is more than a checklist. It's you and your customer talking about how and what they like to play, where and with whom. It's you unlocking the secret of what makes your customer unique and sending them home with what they want.

There's a ton more info in this box and to make things more digestible I've broken down the info into multiple posts:

Kotaku